The Nigerian Official Selection Committee (NOSC) for the Academy of Motion Pictures, Arts and Sciences has called for submission of entries from Nigerian filmmakers for the 95th Academy Awards.
NOSC will oversee the selection exercise and present one film as Nigeria’s entry in the Best International Feature Film (formerly Best Foreign Film) Award category at next year’s Oscars.
The window for submission of films, according to the Committee, is between August 15 to August 31, 2022 on the committee’s official website, thenosc.org.
The call for submission is coming at a time of excitement within several frontline filmmakers who have shot different films in indigenous languages, which are expected to be submitted for consideration by the NOSC.
The Best International Feature Film award is presented annually by the Academy to a feature-length film produced outside the United States that contains 50 percent or more of non-English dialogue.
After a successful submission of Nigeria’s entry, “The Milkmaid” in 2021, the committee has had to make a last-minute cancellation of the country’s participation in the 2022 edition of submissions, citing eligibility short-fall of films received as a major issue.
The Academy requires that films submitted must meet other criteria, including accurate English subtitles, shooting formats, and theatrical releases – details of which are available on the NOSC website.
Before the October 3, 2022 deadline, when the Nigeria’s selection is expected to be submitted to the Academy for approval, NOSC members will be shortlisting, screening and voting to present onmy one film that will represent Nigeria in competing for nomination at the 95th Oscars.
The Academy will release a 15-film shortlist on December 21, out of which the final five nominees to be announced on January 24, 2023 will emerge.
The 95th Academy Awards is scheduled to take place on March 12, 2023 at Dolby Theatre, Los Angeles, United States.
TCN gathers that unlike in 2021 when The Milkmaid, which was wholly shot in Hausa language, was selected as Nigeria’s entry, attention this year will most likely be on a number of epic films shot in Yoruba, most of which are already slated for submission to the NOSC.
Among the films that will be presented for the committee’s consideration, TCN gathered, are EbonyLife Studio’s Elesin Oba:The King’s Horseman, which was directed by the late Biyi Bandele and Kunle Afolayan’s Anikulapo, both of which are Netflix originals but slated for limited cinema release.
Others are Bolanle Austen-Peters’ The Lioness Of Lisabi, which is an epic biopic on the exploits of Fela Kuti’s mother, Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti and Femi Adebayo’s Agesinkole (King of Thieves), which has been a smash hit in the cinemas.
Chaired by the director of Ije (The Journey), Chineze Anyaene, the NOSC’s membership includes Mahmood Ali-Balogun, Ego Boyo, Mildred Okwo, Shaibu Husseini, Tokunbo Odubawo (DJ Tee), Yibo Koko, Moses Babatope, Izu Ojukwu and Omotola Jalade-Ekeinde, among others.